Anyone else feel like meds don’t help their adhd kid?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Mine is 16 and we finally stopped the meds after 8 years. We did:

Focalin
Ritalin
Metadate
Straterra
Vyvanse
Jornay
Concerta
Guanfacine

Nothing seems to have done a thing really. She’s pretty inattentive and has had periods of a lot of dysregulation. We also did Zoloft, Abilify, and Effexor. She gained 60 pounds in 4 years of experimenting with those.

She’s now obese, off of everything, pretty regulated and doing fairly well in school. We are about a month off of everything.

I thought stimulants decreased weight?

I think it was the SSRI that initially caused the weight gain, and her her the stimulants did not act as an appetite suppressant for her. Now she’s on nothing but Guanfacine and still gaining weight. So I don’t know.

Guanfacine causes weight gain

That's what I've read here! But the doctor's INSIST that it doesn't. She has really bad eating habits and is very sedentary too, so it's so hard to tease this all out. All I know is she's gained 60+ pounds in the last 4 years, and that's when we increased the SSRI's and she's been on meds since.

I was 120 before SSRIs and gained 20-30 lbs on them. Effexor made me the fattest but all of them caused significant weight gain and carb cravings. I tried 8 kinds. My psychiatrist insisted this was the opposite of what the literature said and that if anything they’d cause weight gain. After going off Effexor (took 1 year) I lost 25 pounds easily with diet and exercise - and I finally had energy to exercise because the meds made me exhausted and sleep 12 hours. Medication is not a panacea.

My DD was 125 before SSRIs (and stimulants, and Guanfacine) and is now 185. She’s been off of everything for a couple of months now and still seems to be gaining weight. But she’s 16 and feels the world is fat phobic (although I can tell she does not feel good about how she looks and feels), and she continues to eat a lot of carbs and sugar. So I don’t think the weight is going to come off.

PP here. It took me a year of dedicated effort to lose the extra pounds and retrain my taste buds from eating junk. The meds stayed in my system for a while and I was sedentary and used to that lifestyle and completely de conditioned. I was also exhausted all the time. Any medication that causes that amount of weight gain is likely going to do more harm than good. I was even more depressed on SSRIs than not because I was so fat, I looked awful, felt awful, etc. It crushed my self-confidence and killed my social/romantic life. It’s going to take time to undo the damage. I would stop chasing meds if she’s having such significant side effects.

DP. Can we also talk about how SSRIs completely kill your sex drive? That’s a big disruption for young adults. SSRIs are incredible meds for severe anxiety and depression, and OCD, but I absolutely get the sense that parents on here overmedicate their kids and do not understand the actual risks and benefits.

[Anonymous]

Pretty soon you’ll be able to embed a neurolink in the child’s head and it will be a miracle.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Mine is 16 and we finally stopped the meds after 8 years. We did:

Focalin
Ritalin
Metadate
Straterra
Vyvanse
Jornay
Concerta
Guanfacine

Nothing seems to have done a thing really. She’s pretty inattentive and has had periods of a lot of dysregulation. We also did Zoloft, Abilify, and Effexor. She gained 60 pounds in 4 years of experimenting with those.

She’s now obese, off of everything, pretty regulated and doing fairly well in school. We are about a month off of everything.

I thought stimulants decreased weight?

I think it was the SSRI that initially caused the weight gain, and her her the stimulants did not act as an appetite suppressant for her. Now she’s on nothing but Guanfacine and still gaining weight. So I don’t know.

Guanfacine causes weight gain

That's what I've read here! But the doctor's INSIST that it doesn't. She has really bad eating habits and is very sedentary too, so it's so hard to tease this all out. All I know is she's gained 60+ pounds in the last 4 years, and that's when we increased the SSRI's and she's been on meds since.

I was 120 before SSRIs and gained 20-30 lbs on them. Effexor made me the fattest but all of them caused significant weight gain and carb cravings. I tried 8 kinds. My psychiatrist insisted this was the opposite of what the literature said and that if anything they’d cause weight gain. After going off Effexor (took 1 year) I lost 25 pounds easily with diet and exercise - and I finally had energy to exercise because the meds made me exhausted and sleep 12 hours. Medication is not a panacea.

My DD was 125 before SSRIs (and stimulants, and Guanfacine) and is now 185. She’s been off of everything for a couple of months now and still seems to be gaining weight. But she’s 16 and feels the world is fat phobic (although I can tell she does not feel good about how she looks and feels), and she continues to eat a lot of carbs and sugar. So I don’t think the weight is going to come off.

PP here. It took me a year of dedicated effort to lose the extra pounds and retrain my taste buds from eating junk. The meds stayed in my system for a while and I was sedentary and used to that lifestyle and completely de conditioned. I was also exhausted all the time. Any medication that causes that amount of weight gain is likely going to do more harm than good. I was even more depressed on SSRIs than not because I was so fat, I looked awful, felt awful, etc. It crushed my self-confidence and killed my social/romantic life. It’s going to take time to undo the damage. I would stop chasing meds if she’s having such significant side effects.

Thanks for sharing this. Yes! My only regret is not taking her off meds sooner, but conditions were such that I felt I did not have a choice (and a psychiatrist I trusted recommended against it). She is now off of everything. I’m seeing more motivation, but yes she feels awful about herself and has gotten used to being sedentary and eating a lot of carbs and sugar. Your story gives me hope that it may gradually change. I think the meds were doing more harm than good.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Mine is 16 and we finally stopped the meds after 8 years. We did:

Focalin
Ritalin
Metadate
Straterra
Vyvanse
Jornay
Concerta
Guanfacine

Nothing seems to have done a thing really. She’s pretty inattentive and has had periods of a lot of dysregulation. We also did Zoloft, Abilify, and Effexor. She gained 60 pounds in 4 years of experimenting with those.

She’s now obese, off of everything, pretty regulated and doing fairly well in school. We are about a month off of everything.

I thought stimulants decreased weight?

I think it was the SSRI that initially caused the weight gain, and her her the stimulants did not act as an appetite suppressant for her. Now she’s on nothing but Guanfacine and still gaining weight. So I don’t know.

Guanfacine causes weight gain

That's what I've read here! But the doctor's INSIST that it doesn't. She has really bad eating habits and is very sedentary too, so it's so hard to tease this all out. All I know is she's gained 60+ pounds in the last 4 years, and that's when we increased the SSRI's and she's been on meds since.

I was 120 before SSRIs and gained 20-30 lbs on them. Effexor made me the fattest but all of them caused significant weight gain and carb cravings. I tried 8 kinds. My psychiatrist insisted this was the opposite of what the literature said and that if anything they’d cause weight gain. After going off Effexor (took 1 year) I lost 25 pounds easily with diet and exercise - and I finally had energy to exercise because the meds made me exhausted and sleep 12 hours. Medication is not a panacea.

My DD was 125 before SSRIs (and stimulants, and Guanfacine) and is now 185. She’s been off of everything for a couple of months now and still seems to be gaining weight. But she’s 16 and feels the world is fat phobic (although I can tell she does not feel good about how she looks and feels), and she continues to eat a lot of carbs and sugar. So I don’t think the weight is going to come off.

PP here. It took me a year of dedicated effort to lose the extra pounds and retrain my taste buds from eating junk. The meds stayed in my system for a while and I was sedentary and used to that lifestyle and completely de conditioned. I was also exhausted all the time. Any medication that causes that amount of weight gain is likely going to do more harm than good. I was even more depressed on SSRIs than not because I was so fat, I looked awful, felt awful, etc. It crushed my self-confidence and killed my social/romantic life. It’s going to take time to undo the damage. I would stop chasing meds if she’s having such significant side effects.

DP. Can we also talk about how SSRIs completely kill your sex drive? That’s a big disruption for young adults. SSRIs are incredible meds for severe anxiety and depression, and OCD, but I absolutely get the sense that parents on here overmedicate their kids and do not understand the actual risks and benefits.

Yes, I can attest to this. I couldn’t orgasm from age 16-24 due to SSRIs it killed my sex drive. This, in turn, killed my dating life when all my friends were out there having relationships, sex, etc. When I finally did have sex it was horrible because I couldn’t even get aroused. Even though I went off the SSRIs years ago my sex drive and ability to orgasm never recovered to what it was before I took the medication. It’s just very weak. There are some forums, articles, etc where people talk about this. I also had severe discontinuation syndrome getting off meds which my psychiatrist didn’t even believe in but is well known now. I believe taking SSRIs at this age permanently impacted my sexual response. Sex had been a chore for me ever since I went on them, and I have had a very low sex drive since. I’ve done testing of hormones, pelvic floor physical therapy, and other treatments but I just don’t have a sex drive any more. So…yeah, wish I’d never been on them to be honest. Sort of wrecked my entire high school and college experience and self-esteem…

[Anonymous]

This explains the sexual issues SSRIs can cause -which can sometimes be permanent. Parents should be aware of this. I wish I had been before I took meds for a decade and permanently blunted my sexual response….

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/09/health/antidepressants-ssri-sexual-dysfunction.html

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Mine is 16 and we finally stopped the meds after 8 years. We did:

Focalin
Ritalin
Metadate
Straterra
Vyvanse
Jornay
Concerta
Guanfacine

Nothing seems to have done a thing really. She’s pretty inattentive and has had periods of a lot of dysregulation. We also did Zoloft, Abilify, and Effexor. She gained 60 pounds in 4 years of experimenting with those.

She’s now obese, off of everything, pretty regulated and doing fairly well in school. We are about a month off of everything.

I thought stimulants decreased weight?

I think it was the SSRI that initially caused the weight gain, and her her the stimulants did not act as an appetite suppressant for her. Now she’s on nothing but Guanfacine and still gaining weight. So I don’t know.

Guanfacine causes weight gain

That's what I've read here! But the doctor's INSIST that it doesn't. She has really bad eating habits and is very sedentary too, so it's so hard to tease this all out. All I know is she's gained 60+ pounds in the last 4 years, and that's when we increased the SSRI's and she's been on meds since.

I was 120 before SSRIs and gained 20-30 lbs on them. Effexor made me the fattest but all of them caused significant weight gain and carb cravings. I tried 8 kinds. My psychiatrist insisted this was the opposite of what the literature said and that if anything they’d cause weight gain. After going off Effexor (took 1 year) I lost 25 pounds easily with diet and exercise - and I finally had energy to exercise because the meds made me exhausted and sleep 12 hours. Medication is not a panacea.

My DD was 125 before SSRIs (and stimulants, and Guanfacine) and is now 185. She’s been off of everything for a couple of months now and still seems to be gaining weight. But she’s 16 and feels the world is fat phobic (although I can tell she does not feel good about how she looks and feels), and she continues to eat a lot of carbs and sugar. So I don’t think the weight is going to come off.

PP here. It took me a year of dedicated effort to lose the extra pounds and retrain my taste buds from eating junk. The meds stayed in my system for a while and I was sedentary and used to that lifestyle and completely de conditioned. I was also exhausted all the time. Any medication that causes that amount of weight gain is likely going to do more harm than good. I was even more depressed on SSRIs than not because I was so fat, I looked awful, felt awful, etc. It crushed my self-confidence and killed my social/romantic life. It’s going to take time to undo the damage. I would stop chasing meds if she’s having such significant side effects.

DP. Can we also talk about how SSRIs completely kill your sex drive? That’s a big disruption for young adults. SSRIs are incredible meds for severe anxiety and depression, and OCD, but I absolutely get the sense that parents on here overmedicate their kids and do not understand the actual risks and benefits.

Yes, I can attest to this. I couldn’t orgasm from age 16-24 due to SSRIs it killed my sex drive. This, in turn, killed my dating life when all my friends were out there having relationships, sex, etc. When I finally did have sex it was horrible because I couldn’t even get aroused. Even though I went off the SSRIs years ago my sex drive and ability to orgasm never recovered to what it was before I took the medication. It’s just very weak. There are some forums, articles, etc where people talk about this. I also had severe discontinuation syndrome getting off meds which my psychiatrist didn’t even believe in but is well known now. I believe taking SSRIs at this age permanently impacted my sexual response. Sex had been a chore for me ever since I went on them, and I have had a very low sex drive since. I’ve done testing of hormones, pelvic floor physical therapy, and other treatments but I just don’t have a sex drive any more. So…yeah, wish I’d never been on them to be honest. Sort of wrecked my entire high school and college experience and self-esteem…

Wow I am sorry to hear that. The side effects & discontinuation definitely are not discussed enough. I had severe anxiety when I took an SSRI and it was a life saver but I got off as soon as I could.